This invention relates to apparatus for monitoring and displaying the activity of an information processing system and, more particularly, to such apparatus which monitors and displays selected parameters of a central information recording system, such as a central dictation system.
This invention is related to and is an improvement of the system disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,337, issued to the assignee of the present invention.
In a central information processing system, information generally originates from several originating stations, such as dictate stations or terminals normally included in a central dictation system. This information is transmitted to and processed by individual processing devices, such as message recorders in a central dictation system, for further use. Recovery stations, or terminals, connectable to the individual processing devices, serve to recover the information therefrom. In the central dictation environment, such recovery stations are transcribe devices which are connectable to the recorders to transcribe previously recorded messages.
Various types of recorders which can be used in a central dictation system are noted in aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,337. As also mentioned therein, it is desirable, both in a central dictation system and, more generally, in a centralized information processing system, to provide some means by which information jobs, such as dictated messages, may be monitored at least until such jobs ultimately are recovered, or transcribed. This patent describes a system for monitoring and displaying the status of individual information jobs, such as dictated messages, as each such job is generated and processed.
The information job status monitoring and displaying system described in the aforementioned patent "tracks" each job, or message, to display various status data associated therewith. For example, the identity of the originator, or dictator, of the job is displayed, together with the identity of the particular recorder on which that job or message was recorded. If the job or message is recorded on a magnetic tape cassette, the identity thereof also is indicated and displayed. Furthermore, the length of the job or message and the time at which it was recorded also are displayed. The system further functions to indicate whether a particular job is in the process of being generated, or dictated, whether that job is ready to be recovered, or transcribed, whether that job is in the process of being recovered or transcribed (e.g. whether it has been "assigned" to a particular recovery or transcribe station), and whether the recovery or transcription of that job has been completed. As the status of a particular job or message changes, such as when that job or message changes from condition "ready" to be recovered or transcribed to the process of being recovered or transcribed, to the completion of the recovery or transcription thereof, such changes in status are displayed. Thus, a supervisory operator may accurately track, or follow, respective jobs as they are processed in the central processing system. Moreover, in the event of an inquiry regarding a particular job, such as its present status, or when recovery thereof can be expected, or when or who originated or recovered it, the supervisory operator may easily and rapidly recall all information associated with that inquiry.
While the monitoring and displaying system of the aforementioned patent operates satisfactorily, it is desirable, in some applications, to obtain and display information that relates to the overall operation and efficiency of the information processing system. For example, it is desirable to provide a display of the status of individual recorders which are included in the system so as to indicate the availability of each such recorder for use in recording information or messages, the overall delay in recovering a new message that may be recorded on each recorder, the lengths of messages which are recorded and the number of messages which are awaiting recovery. Also, it is desirable to display the identity (e.g. number) of a message which is in position to be recovered or transcribed. Still further, it is desirable to provide a graphical display of that portion of the recording capacity of a particular recorder which is consumed by messages awaiting recovery. Furthermore, if the information processing system with which the monitoring and display apparatus is used exhibits the capability of recording "priority" messages (i.e. messages which must be recovered quickly before the recovery of other messages), it is desirable to provide a separate display of the status of "priority" recorders (i.e. those recorders on which the priority messages are recorded), as well as those messages which are to be transcribed on a "priority" basis.
Much of the aforementioned information is collected and monitored in the monitoring and displaying apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,337. However, the overall status of the individual recorders included in the information processing system is not displayed therein. Hence, the overall operation and efficiency of the information processing system is not easily ascertainable; and a supervisory operator may be at a disadvantage in supervising the overall recording and recovery of messages.
In addition, it is possible that, in a centralized information processing system, such as a central dictation system, an originating, or dictate, station may remain operably connected to a recorder yet be disposed in its ina2ctive or idle mode. For example, a dictate station may "seize" a recorder for the purpose of recording a message thereon. At the completion of recording the message, the dictator may return his dictate station to an "on-hook" condition by which the seized recorder is released. However, if the dictate station is not placed properly in its "on-hook" mode, such as if the usual handset of the dictate station is not properly returned to its cradle, the recorder is not released. In prior systems, this failure to release the recorder results in locking out other dictate stations from connecting thereto, thus reducing the overall availability and efficiency of the central system. It is desirable, in the foregoing situation, to provide the supervisory operator of the monitoring and displaying apparatus with the capability of disconnecting an inactive dictate station from a recorder, thereby making that recorder available to other dictate stations. Furthermore, it is a desired feature to provide an electronic disconnect operation to permit the supervisory operator to control the release of a recorder from a central location, without requiring the operator or an assistant to return the handset of the dictate station physically to its "on-hook" condition.